From "Declaration of War" to "Alliance": The Great Reconciliation between So-Young and Jinbo
There are no permanent enemies in business.
In 2024, JINBO Biotech still maintained a vehement stance, vowing to fiercely battle low-price platforms, even issuing a stern statement that named SoYoung for illegally promoting its core product “Viyimei” at low prices, disrupting market pricing, and making their conflict public.
But after two years, the plot has done a complete 180-degree reversal.
Recently, SoYoung announced the first batch of 14 upstream producers joining its newly formed "Youth Premium Alliance", and JINBO Biotech is notably among them. Also on the list are Allergan, Sotera, Aimeike, Bloomage BioTechnology, and other major medical aesthetics suppliers.
This shift from “siege” to “embrace” reflects the profound changes in the discourse power within the medical aesthetics industry chain.
On one hand, SoYoung has gradually transformed from being a platform to operating offline medical aesthetics clinics, with 50 stores established in 16 cities across China, thus enhancing its influence over upstream suppliers.
On the other hand, the moat protecting the medical aesthetics upstream is drying up. Taking JINBO Biotech’s recombinant collagen products as an example, the monopoly was thoroughly broken when Juzi Bio and Chuangjian Bio both received regulatory approvals to launch their own recombinant collagen products.
As the benefits of scarcity fade and downstream channels rise in strength, upstream suppliers that once held absolute pricing power are forced to step off their pedestal and seek new positions amidst the transformation, in order to remain participants at the table.
From "Siege" to "Alliance"
Turning back the clock to 2024, JINBO Biotech twice issued—and then deleted—statements accusing SoYoung of illegally promoting its core product “Viyimei” at low prices.
At the time, as the only recombinant type III human collagen on the market, JINBO Biotech held pricing power and sought to maintain its high-end price system through strict channel control.
However, in just two years, all this tension has dissipated.
On January 28, at SoYoung’s 2026 Youth Conference, it announced the establishment of the Youth Premium Alliance with JINBO Biotech and 13 other upstream suppliers, planning collaboration in volume-price linkage, genuine product tracking, and other aspects.
This is not the first time JINBO Biotech has “bowed” to downstream.
JINBO Biotech and Meituan also experienced a dramatic reversal from “bombardment” to “embrace.”
The conflict first erupted in September 2024 when JINBO Biotech published an open letter to consumers, publicly “bombarding” Meituan and accusing its inclusion of Viyimei in the "10 Billion Subsidy" program without authorization.
The root cause of JINBO Biotech’s outburst was the "10 Billion Subsidy" smashing Viyimei’s price system.
At that time, Viyimei's suggested market price was as high as 6,000 yuan per bottle, but Meituan’s subsidized platform price was brutally lowered to 1,339 yuan per bottle.
Although the drop in terminal prices didn't immediately affect factory prices, it not only disturbed the market but, over time, would also erode upstream profit margins.
But the hard stance lasted less than a year. Last July, JINBO Biotech signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Meituan Healthcare, and Viyimei was officially listed in the "10 Billion Subsidy" as an authorized partner.
From compromising with Meituan to reconciling with SoYoung now, JINBO Biotech’s consecutive “downturns” essentially reflect upstream manufacturers’ reluctant recognition of market reality: when products are no longer absolutely scarce, controlling customer acquisition channels gives the power to negotiate prices.
On one hand, with Juzi Bio and Chuangjian Bio’s recombinant collagen products approved and launched, Viyimei's monopoly has ended;
This shift extends far beyond recombinant collagen. According to incomplete statistics, in 2025, the Drug Administration approved no fewer than 50 Class III medical device registrations for medical aesthetics, greatly enriching the field’s product diversity.
On the other hand, as SoYoung transformed into downstream clinics, its store scale made it a major client that upstream cannot afford to miss.
SoYoung currently has 50 shops in 16 cities nationwide.
According to SoYoung chairman Jin Xing, at least 35 additional stores are planned for 2026, with a focus on increasing density in the four core cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
For upstream suppliers like JINBO Biotech needing to grab market share amid fierce competition, joining SoYoung’s "Youth Premium Alliance" or embracing Meituan’s "10 Billion Subsidy" and leveraging these nationwide networks for mass sales is obviously more pragmatic than clinging to “price dignity.”
Three Survival Strategies for Upstream Manufacturers
As pricing power shifts from upstream manufacturers to downstream channels, those who once easily “counted money” must now face harsh competition, which has led to distinctly different paths for industry players.
Path One: The Rise of ODM Model.
SoYoung’s "Miracle Youth 3.0" is custom-made by Xihong Biotech, currently available at a group-buy price of 999 yuan, far below the several-thousand-yuan mainstream youth injection prices.
Xihong Biotech’s entry into SoYoung’s supply chain hinges on its non-interference in downstream pricing, essentially playing the ODM role: providing compliant, quality products and ceding full pricing power to SoYoung, which has the channels and traffic.
Path Two: Maintaining Product Scarcity. Upstream firms pursue market share during the “window period” before competitors catch up, by R&D or acquisition.
Path Three: Overseas Expansion to Find New Growth Opportunities—this has become the mainstream choice for leading domestic medical aesthetics companies.
In 2025, Aimeike invested $190 million to acquire South Korean medical aesthetics company REGEN Biotech, Inc. (hereafter "REGEN"), having completed all payments for the deal.
Sources from Aimeike internal staff revealed that the goal was not only to obtain REGEN’s youth injection product AestheFill, but also to leverage AestheFill’s global brand recognition and channels to find new growth opportunities internationally.
Pendulum Medical chose the path of independent R&D for overseas markets—their radiofrequency device "Pendulum Counterclockwise" has obtained FDA registration in the U.S.
Pendulum Medical founder Lei Xiaobing revealed that this device has already entered the top 30 medical institutions in the U.S., with plans to cover the top 300 institutions by 2026.
In today’s supply-demand reversal, the shift of pricing power from upstream to channels and terminals essentially demonstrates the deep “demystification” and return to value in the medical aesthetics market.
For upstream suppliers, whether retreating into ODM supply chains, battling for innovative product scarcity, or heading overseas to seek new blue oceans, the prerequisite for “survival” and “thriving” is adapting to the new, buyer-driven world.
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